Efficiency and progress is ours once more[1]“Kill the Poor” is the sarcastic opening track to the Dead Kennedy’s incendiary 1980 debut Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables–and also plays over the closing credits of the … Continue reading
Now that we have the neutron bomb[2]Officially defined as a type of Enhanced Radiation Weapon (ERW), the neutron bomb was a low-yield thermonuclear weapon designed in the 1970s to maximize lethal neutron radiation in the immediate … Continue reading
It’s nice and quick and clean and gets things done
Away with excess enemy
But no less value to property
No sense in war but perfect sense at home[3]The development of the neutron bomb led to massive anti-nuclear protests across not only America but also its Western European allies, who refused to let it be positioned in their territory. … Continue reading
The sun beams down on a brand new day
No more welfare tax to pay[4]“Ye do love money, and your substance, and your fine apparel, and the adorning of your churches, more than ye love the poor and the needy, the sick and the afflicted” -Mormon 8:35, 37
Unsightly slums gone up in flashing light
Jobless millions whisked away[5]That is, the neutron bomb wipes out “the poor class of people; for behold, they were cast out of the synagogues because of the coarseness of their apparel—Therefore they were not permitted to … Continue reading
At last we have more room to play[6]“But wo unto the rich, who are rich as to the things of the world. For because they are rich they despise the poor, and they persecute the meek, and their hearts are upon their treasures; … Continue reading
All systems go to kill the poor tonight[7]“What mean ye? Ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor, saith the Lord God of Hosts.” – 2 Nephi 13:15
Gonna kill, kill, kill, kill, kill the poor[8]“…[ye do] turn away the needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless! And what will ye … Continue reading
Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill the poor[9]“They rob the poor because of their fine sanctuaries; they rob the poor because of their fine clothing; and they persecute the meek and the poor in heart, because in their pride they are puffed … Continue reading
Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill the poor tonight[10]“And now behold, my brethren, this is the word which I declare unto you, that many of you have begun to search for gold, and for silver, and for all manner of precious ores, in which this land, … Continue reading
Behold the sparkly of champagne
The crime rate’s gone, feel free again
Oh life’s a dream with you, Miss Lily White
Jane Fonda[11]Hollywood actress, at the time best known for her left-wing activism and anti-Vietnam war protests–which you would think would be right up the Dead Kennedys’ wheelhouse, save that … Continue reading on the screen today
Convinced the liberals it’s okay[12]“they have built up many churches; nevertheless, they put down the power and miracles of God, and preach up unto themselves their own wisdom and their own learning, that they may get gain and … Continue reading
So let’s get dressed and dance away the night[13]“And ye will not suffer your children that they go hungry, or naked; neither will ye suffer that they transgress the laws of God, and fight and quarrel one with another, and serve the devil, … Continue reading
While they kill, kill, kill, kill, kill the poor[14]“Yea, he saw great inequality among the people, some lifting themselves up with their pride, despising others, turning their backs upon the needy and the naked and those who were hungry, and … Continue reading
Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill the poor
Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill the poor tonight[15]“And now my beloved brethren, I say unto you, can ye withstand these sayings; yea, can ye lay aside these things, and trample the Holy One under your feet; yea, can ye be puffed up in the pride … Continue reading
Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill the poor
Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill the poor
Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill the poor tonight[16]“And now behold, my beloved brethren, I say unto you, do not suppose that this is all; for after ye have done all these things, if ye turn away the needy, and the naked, and visit not the sick … Continue reading
Behold the sparkly of champagne[17]“And it was because of the pride of their hearts, because of their exceeding riches, yea, it was because of their oppression to the poor, withholding their food from the hungry, withholding … Continue reading
The crime rate’s gone, feel free again
Oh life’s a dream with you, Miss Lily[18]Lilys, of course, are associated with funerals and death White[19]“And thus they did obtain the sole management of the government, insomuch that they did trample under their feet and smite and rend and turn their backs upon the poor and the meek, and the … Continue reading
Jane Fonda on the screen today
Convinced the liberals it’s okay
So let’s get dressed and dance away the night
While they kill, kill, kill, kill, kill the poor
Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill the poor
Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill the poor tonight
Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill the poor
Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill the poor
Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill the poor tonight
Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill the poor
Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill the poor
Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill the poor tonight[20]“Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was … Continue reading
References
| ↑1 | “Kill the Poor” is the sarcastic opening track to the Dead Kennedy’s incendiary 1980 debut Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables–and also plays over the closing credits of the 1998 cult-film SLC Punk. |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | Officially defined as a type of Enhanced Radiation Weapon (ERW), the neutron bomb was a low-yield thermonuclear weapon designed in the 1970s to maximize lethal neutron radiation in the immediate vicinity of the blast while minimizing the physical power of the blast itself.
In layman’s terms, it kills everybody within the vicinity of the blast while leaving all the buildings in tact. In the 1978 Battlestar Galactica TV series (developed by Mormonism’s own Glen A. Larson), when the ship at last arrives at Earth, they find that neutron bomb warfare has already wiped out entire cities–leaving the factories available for occupying forces to utilize, as Starbuck notes with scathing sarcasm. |
| ↑3 | The development of the neutron bomb led to massive anti-nuclear protests across not only America but also its Western European allies, who refused to let it be positioned in their territory. Nevertheless, President Reagan ordered neutron bomb missiles be built anyways.
Yet as Dead Kennedys frontman Jello Biafra notes here, a bomb that doesn’t destroy an enemies industrial capacity is largely pointless–unless the real purpose of it isn’t to use it on foreign actors at all, but domestic. |
| ↑4 | “Ye do love money, and your substance, and your fine apparel, and the adorning of your churches, more than ye love the poor and the needy, the sick and the afflicted” -Mormon 8:35, 37 |
| ↑5 | That is, the neutron bomb wipes out “the poor class of people; for behold, they were cast out of the synagogues because of the coarseness of their apparel—Therefore they were not permitted to enter into their synagogues to worship God, being esteemed as filthiness; therefore they were poor; yea, they were esteemed by their brethren as dross; therefore they were poor as to things of the world; and also they were poor in heart.” (Alma 32:2-3).
But then, we were all collectively and actively exterminating the poor long before the neutron bomb was invented, and continue to do even after the last neutron bomb was dismantled in 1996. With every demolishment of a homeless encampment while giving them no other place to go, with every free school lunch cancelled, with every rise in costs for live-saving medicines and hospital care, with every rise in the cost of living but zero rise in real-wages, with every cut in social welfare but none for corporate welfare, with every poor person shot by police without cause, repercussion, or recourse, etc. and etc., we express our collective, unspoken desire to kill off the poor en masse. Yet as the following, numerous excerpts from our own Book of Mormon–“the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion”–reminds us, it is not the poor who will be burned at the Great and Terrible Last Day. |
| ↑6 | “But wo unto the rich, who are rich as to the things of the world. For because they are rich they despise the poor, and they persecute the meek, and their hearts are upon their treasures; wherefore, their treasure is their god. And behold their treasure shall perish with them also.” – 2 Nephi 9:30 |
| ↑7 | “What mean ye? Ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor, saith the Lord God of Hosts.” – 2 Nephi 13:15 |
| ↑8 | “…[ye do] turn away the needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless! And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from far? to whom will ye flee for help? and where will ye leave your glory?” – 2 Nephi 20:1-3 |
| ↑9 | “They rob the poor because of their fine sanctuaries; they rob the poor because of their fine clothing; and they persecute the meek and the poor in heart, because in their pride they are puffed up. They wear stiff necks and high heads; yea, and because of pride, and wickedness, and abominations, and whoredoms, they have all gone astray save it be a few, who are the humble followers of Christ: nevertheless, they are led, that in many instances they do err because they are taught by the precepts of men. O the wise, and the learned, and the rich that are puffed up in the pride of their hearts, and all those who preach false doctrines, and all those who commit whoredoms, and prevert the way of the Lord, wo, wo, wo be unto them, saith the Lord God Almighty, for they shall be thrust down to hell!” – 2 Nephi 28:12-15 |
| ↑10 | “And now behold, my brethren, this is the word which I declare unto you, that many of you have begun to search for gold, and for silver, and for all manner of precious ores, in which this land, which is a land of promise unto you and to your seed, doth abound most plentifully. And the hand of providence hath smiled upon you most pleasingly, that you have obtained many riches; and because some of you have obtained more abundantly than that of your brethren ye are lifted up in the pride of your hearts, and wear stiff necks and high heads because of the costliness of your apparel, and persecute your brethren because ye suppose that ye are better than they. And now, my brethren, do ye suppose that God justifieth you in this thing? Behold, I say unto you, Nay. But he condemneth you, and if ye persist in these things his judgment must speedily come unto you. O that he would show you that he can pierce you, and with one glance of his eye he can smite you to the dust! O that he would rid you from this iniquity and abomination. And O that ye would listen unto the word of his commands, and let not this pride of your hearts destroy your souls! Think of your brethren like unto yourselves, and be familiar with all and free with your substance, that they may be rich like unto you.” – Jacob 2:12-17 |
| ↑11 | Hollywood actress, at the time best known for her left-wing activism and anti-Vietnam war protests–which you would think would be right up the Dead Kennedys’ wheelhouse, save that frontman Jello Biafra clearly considered her to be a fake, performative liberal as easy to buy off as the next rich person. Given that Fonda would later marry billionaire and media-mogul Ted Turner scarcely a decade later, this line would turn out to be prophetic. |
| ↑12 | “they have built up many churches; nevertheless, they put down the power and miracles of God, and preach up unto themselves their own wisdom and their own learning, that they may get gain and grind upon the face of the poor.” – 2 Nephi 26:20 |
| ↑13 | “And ye will not suffer your children that they go hungry, or naked; neither will ye suffer that they transgress the laws of God, and fight and quarrel one with another, and serve the devil, who is the master of sin, or who is the evil spirit which hath been spoken of by our fathers, he being an enemy to all righteousness. But ye will teach them to walk in the ways of truth and soberness; ye will teach them to love one another, and to serve one another. And also, ye yourselves will succor those that stand in need of your succor; ye will administer of your substance unto him that standeth in need; and ye will not suffer that the beggar putteth up his petition to you in vain, and turn him out to perish. Perhaps thou shalt say: The man has brought upon himself his misery; therefore I will stay my hand, and will not give unto him of my food, nor impart unto him of my substance that he may not suffer, for his punishments are just –
But I say unto you, O man, whosoever doeth this the same hath great cause to repent; and except he repenteth of that which he hath done he perisheth forever, and hath no interest in the kingdom of God. For behold, are we not all beggars? Do we not all depend upon the same Being, even God, for all the substance which we have, for both food and raiment, and for gold, and for silver, and for all the riches which we have of every kind? And behold, even at this time ye have been calling on his name, and begging for a remission of your sins. And has he suffered that ye have begged in vain? Nay; he has poured out his Spirit upon you, and has caused that your hearts should be filled with joy, and has caused that your mouths should be stopped that ye could not find utterance, so exceedingly great was your joy. And now, if God, who has created you, on whom you are dependent for your lives and for all that ye have and are, doth grant unto you whatsoever ye ask is right, in faith, believing that ye shall receive, O then, how ye ought to impart of the substance that ye have one to another. And if ye judge the man who putteth up his petition to you for your substance that he perish not, and condemn him, how much more just will be your condemnation for withholding your substance, which doth not belong to you but to God, to whom also your life belongeth; and yet ye put up no petition, nor repent of the thing which thou hast done. I say unto you, wo be unto that man, for his substance shall perish with him; and now, I say these things unto those who are rich as pertaining to the things of this world. And again, I say unto the poor, ye who have not and yet have sufficient, that ye remain from day to day; I mean all you who deny the beggar, because ye have not; I would that ye say in your hearts that: I give not because I have not, but if I had I would give. And now, if ye say this in your hearts ye remain guiltless, otherwise ye are condemned; and your condemnation is just for ye covet that which ye have not received. And now, for the sake of these things which I have spoken unto you – that is, for the sake of retaining a remission of your sins from day to day, that ye may walk guiltless before God – I would that ye should impart of your substance to the poor, every man according to that which he hath, such as feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and administering to their relief, both spiritually and temporally, according to their wants.” – Mosiah 4:14-26 |
| ↑14 | “Yea, he saw great inequality among the people, some lifting themselves up with their pride, despising others, turning their backs upon the needy and the naked and those who were hungry, and those who were athirst, and those who were sick and afflicted. Now this was a great cause for lamentations among the people, while others were abasing themselves, succoring those who stood in need of their succor, such as imparting their substance to the poor and the needy, feeding the hungry, and suffering all manner of afflictions, for Christ’s sake, who should come according to the spirit of prophecy” – Alma 4:11-13 |
| ↑15 | “And now my beloved brethren, I say unto you, can ye withstand these sayings; yea, can ye lay aside these things, and trample the Holy One under your feet; yea, can ye be puffed up in the pride of your hearts; yea, will ye still persist in the wearing of costly apparel and setting your hearts upon the vain things of the world, upon your riches? Yea, will ye persist in supposing that ye are better one than another; yea, will ye persist in the persecution of your brethren, who humble themselves and do walk after the holy order of God, wherewith they have been brought into this church, having been sanctified by the Holy Spirit, and they do bring forth works which are meet for repentance – Yea, and will you persist in turning your backs upon the poor, and the needy, and in withholding your substance from them? And finally, all ye that will persist in your wickedness, I say unto you that these are they who shall be hewn down and cast into the fire except they speedily repent.” – Alma 5:53-56 |
| ↑16 | “And now behold, my beloved brethren, I say unto you, do not suppose that this is all; for after ye have done all these things, if ye turn away the needy, and the naked, and visit not the sick and the afflicted, and impart of your substance, if ye have, to those who stand in need – I say unto you, if ye do not any of these things, behold, your prayer is vain, and availeth you nothing, and ye are as hypocrites who do deny the faith. Therefore, if ye do not remember to be charitable, ye are as dross, which the refiners do cast out, (it being of no worth) and is trodden under foot of men.” – Alma 34:27-29 |
| ↑17 | “And it was because of the pride of their hearts, because of their exceeding riches, yea, it was because of their oppression to the poor, withholding their food from the hungry, withholding their clothing from the naked, and smiting their humble brethren upon the cheek, making a mock that which was sacred, denying the spirit of prophecy and revelation, murdering…” -Helaman 4:12 |
| ↑18 | Lilys, of course, are associated with funerals and death |
| ↑19 | “And thus they did obtain the sole management of the government, insomuch that they did trample under their feet and smite and rend and turn their backs upon the poor and the meek, and the humble followers of God. And thus we see that they were in an awful state, and ripening for an everlasting destruction.” – Helaman 6:39-40 |
| ↑20 | “Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungerd, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.” -Matt. 25:41-45 |